I’m going to make a little kit of spices and seasonings to take with me on short camping trips and one-day foraging expeditions - the notion being that it will contain a versatile spice-survival-kit for either seasoning individual foraged foods (for example, a pan of wild mushrooms or mussels), or to fortify the creation of a one-pot meal that begins with little more than rice, water and vegetables.
The case for this kit will be a pair of empty cans from Chinese braised eel (like these - mostly because they’re so pretty), hinged together in clamshell arrangement. Each can is about 4 by 3 by 1 inches - so the kit will be 4 by 3 by 2. I’ll find various small vials and bottles to fit inside, to hold the contents.
I’ve got a fairly good idea what I’ll begin stocking it with (given that space is strictly limited) - including, but not limited to:
Salt and pepper (obviously)
Paprika, cayenne pepper
Saffron
Dried mixed herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano)
A stock cube
Soy and Worcester sauces (I’ll use those tiny bottles from snack packs of sushi)
Cider vinegar (or maybe white wine vinegar) - lemon juice would be better, but won’t keep.
Curry (paste or powder)
Mustard or horseradish (if I can find a small, shelf-stable pack)
I would add a whole head of unpeeled garlic. It should be reasonably light, if not exactly the most space saving choice. It keeps well whole, you can mash a clove to get great flavor when you need it. Unless you dislike garlic. But I don’t believe any dinner dish isn’t improved by adding fresh minced garlic.
Remember the KISS principle*. Salt, pepper, granulated onion and garlic, maybe a small bottle of Tabasco sauce. Better still pre-pack your individual meals and don’t expect to be able to forage for anything. If you do find something; hey it’s a bonus, but enjoy the natural flavors rather than trying to “augment” them too much.
*ETA Unless you are car camping, then the sky is the limit. Go gourmet to your hearts content.
If you are carrying this on your back I’d skip all liquids, every extra ounce counts plus leakage or breakage will be a horrible mess. Salt, pepper, and dried Italian herbs will take you a long way. Add a small bulb of garlic, onion flakes, and red pepper flakes if you want some variety.
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder, pepper flakes, mixed Italian seasoning. Stay away from those multi-spice containers for camping. They suck.
Saffron? No. The only essential seasoning I’d need is salt. As long as I have salt, I’m good. That being said, if I had extra space, I’d also take pepper, garlic powder and onion powder (in that order). I’m an avid cook, but for a camping trip, I’d be hard pressed to feel like I needed any more than that.
It’s not a bad choice - a fair proportion of my foraging days are coastal - if I’m carrying rice and half expecting to be cooking seafood, I might want saffron.
Well it’s a little hard to give advice without seeing your wine list first.
I didn’t see juniper berries mentioned yet. You might get lucky and run over a deer. It’d be a shame to waste it just because you didn’t have the right ingredients.
I always, ALWAYS include some chicken-powder. Not your generally available stock-cubes (i.e. Maggi or Continental or whatever) but KNORR chicken-powder.
It has to be** KNORR**, nothing else comes close, and it can make a bowl of rice edible in itself. Add some other stuff and you have a gourmet meal in the boonies.
Oh, did I mention** KNORR** chicken-powder??
(And no, I don’t have shares in the company…wish I did!)
Depending on space and packing efficiency, I might replace the stock cube(s) with a couple of sachets of stock powder from packs of ramen - quite similar to the Knorr stock powder in composition.
